Americans head into Olympic year with most decorated, and deepest, figure skating pool in decades

BOSTON (AP) — The United States is heading into the Olympic year with its most decorated — and deepest — pool of figure skaters in decades.

Perhaps ever.

After winning three titles at the world championships for the first time ever, the U.S. could be headed for a record medal haul at the Milano-Cortina Games. The Americans won two golds and a bronze at the 2022 Beijing Games and haven’t won more than three figure skating medals at any Olympics since taking four when they hosted in Squaw Valley in 1960.

“It’s happening, and it’s happening really quite a lot for the U.S.,” said Gracie Gold, a two-time national champion, who won a bronze medal in the team event at the 2014 Olympics and is now a figure skating broadcaster. “I’m feeling super optimistic. I think everyone’s feeling optimistic. Who wouldn’t be?”

Ilia Malinin won his second straight men’s title to wrap up the world championships in Boston on Saturday night, with the home crowd rising to a standing ovation and waving U.S. flags as he finished his quad-filled routine.

A few hours earlier Madison Chock and Evan Bates took gold in ice dance. Alysa Liu won her first world women’s title on Friday night — the first for the U.S. in almost two decades.

Another reason for optimism: Isabeau Levito (fourth) and two-time defending national champion Amber Glenn (fifth) gave the Americans three of the top five women.

“Go Team USA. That’s all I can say,” Liu said. “I’m so proud of both Isabeau and Amber for putting up such great performances and such great fight. They were really fun to be with this week.”

And though the U.S. did not medal in pairs, with Japan claiming the top two spots, the performances of Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov along with Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea mean the Americans have a chance to send a third pair to the 2026 Games.

That would be a first since 1994.

Nathan Chen, who stepped away from competitive skating after winning gold in Beijing, mused that the U.S. might have swept the golds at worlds if Brandon Frazier and Alexa Knierim were still competing. His Olympic teammates won the pairs world title in 2022 before they, too, stepped away from the sport the following year.

“But it’s really cool, yeah. It’s great to see the U.S. in this position, especially being at home,” said Chen, who still takes part in shows but is busy these days applying to medical school. “There’s a lot of excitement, you know? There’s so much energy.”

The best U.S. figure skating haul in the Olympics has been the five medals won in 1956, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, when there were only three events: men, women and pairs. In Squaw Valley, the U.S. took two golds and two bronze.

Ice dance was added for the 1976 Innsbruck Games, and there has been a team competition since 2014, making a total of 15 available medals in Milano-Cortina. It also doesn’t hurt that the Russians and Belarusians were banned from the world championships due to the invasion of Ukraine; they will have a limited pathway to the Olympics.

While the Americans have been up and down in men, women and pairs competitions over the years, they have dominated ice dance since Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto came away with bronze in 2006.

Meryl Davis and Charlie White won gold at the 2011 worlds in Moscow and repeated two years later, and the U.S. has had at least one couple on the ice dance podium at worlds every year since 2015.

“We’ve had a U.S. team on the world podium for a pretty long while,” said Bates, who with Chock took gold in Boston. “And to have Ben and Charlie in the building and hear from Meryl over text, it means a lot, and I think the pipeline of U.S. ice dance teams is incredibly strong, seeing how the teams did this week.”

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics

Ilia Malinin, of the United States, celebrates during a medal ceremony for men's free skating at the figure skating world championships, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, of the United States, left, take a bow as Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, of the United States, right, applaud during a pairs practice session at the figure skating world championships, Tuesday, March 25, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, of the United States, perform during their pairs short program at the figure skating world championships, Wednesday, March 26, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, of the United States, perform during the pairs free skating program at the figure skating world championships, Thursday, March 27, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Amber Glenn, of the United States, performs during the women's free skating program at the figure skating world championships, Friday, March 28, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Gold medalist Alysa Liu, of the United States poses for photos during a medal ceremony for the women's free skating program at the figure skating world championships, Friday, March 28, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Gold medalist Alysa Liu, of the United States, celebrates during a medal ceremony for the women's free skating program at the figure skating world championships, Friday, March 28, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Gold medalists Madison Chock and Evan Bates, of the United States, celebrate during a medal ceremony for ice dancing at the figure skating world championships, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, of the United States, perform during their pairs short program at the figure skating world championships, Wednesday, March 26, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Alysa Liu, of the United States, reacts after performing during the women's free skating program at the figure skating world championships, Friday, March 28, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Fans cheer on skaters from the United States of America during the ice dance rhythm dance program at the figure skating world championships, Friday, March 28, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

From left, silver medalists Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, of Canada; gold medalists Madison Chock and Evan Bates, of the United States; and bronze medalists Olivia Smart and Tim Dieck, of Spain, pose for a photos during a medal ceremony for ice dancing at the figure skating world championships, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Ilia Malinin, of the United States, performs during the men's free skating program at the figure skating world championships, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Gold medalist Alysa Liu, of the United States reacts during a medal ceremony for the women's free skating program at the figure skating world championships, Friday, March 28, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday exercised his power of the gavel — and tried to bring it down with an unusually aggressive effort to squash a proposal for new parents in Congress to able to vote by proxy, rather than in person, as they care for newborns.

His plan failed, 206-222.

In an unprecedented move, the House Republican leadership had engineered a way to quietly kill the bipartisan plan from two new moms—Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida and Democratic Rep. Brittany Pettersen of Colorado. Their plan has widespread support from a majority of House colleagues. Some 218 lawmakers backed the new moms, signing on to a so-called “discharge petition” to force their proposal onto the House floor for consideration.

But Johnson, like GOP leaders before him, rails against proxy voting, as President Donald Trump pushes people back to work in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic work from home trend.

A procedural vote Tuesday will test whether the speaker — or the new moms — have the tally on their side. It was turned back in dramatic fashion, with nine Republicans joining all Democrats to sink the GOP leaders' effort.

"If we don't do the right thing now, it'll never be done," said Luna, who gave birth to her son in 2023.

Pettersen with a diaper over her shoulder and four-month-old son, Sam, in her arms, stood on the House floor pleaded with colleagues to turn back the GOP leadership's effort to stop their resolution.

“It is unfathomable that in 2025 we have not modernized Congress,” she said. “We're asking you to continue to stand with us.”

But Johnson had drawn the line against proxy voting as unconstitutional.

“Look, I’m a father, I’m pro-family. The Republican Party is pro-family,” the Republican speaker said late last month. But he said, "I believe it violates more than two centuries of tradition and institution. And I think that it opens a Pandora’s box, where ultimately, maybe no one is here.”

It’s the first time in modern House history that leadership was taking the extraordinary step to try to halt a discharge petition when it’s this far along in the process. Next steps are uncertain.

Luna used the discharge petition process as she and others grew frustrated that House committees and party leadership were not bringing the proxy-voting proposal forward. Instead, she and others gathered the majority signatures needed, 218, to discharge it from limbo, and force it to the floor for action.

At a Rules committee hearing early Tuesday, the GOP-led panel tucked in a provision into the routine rules process that would have prohibited not just this discharge petition but any others that try to push a proxy voting forward.

Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the panel, said a discharge petition has never been halted before at this stage in the process — a remarkable move from Republicans who often campaign as the party aligned with family values.

“Given the chance to actually support families, they turn their backs,” he said. "A majority of the chamber is upending what the majority in this chamber wants."

Republicans countered that Luna, who led the discharge effort, did not go through the regular process, of waiting for their resolution to be brought to the floor through the regular procedure. And they criticized the temporary proxy voting policy that Democrats put in place during the pandemic that they said was abused by member absences.

“You have to come to work, you have to be present,” said Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C. during a committee debate.

Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., the chair of the Rules Committee, decried what she called the “laptop class” in America that doesn’t have the luxury of working by proxy. “Members of Congress simply need to show up for work,” she said.

About a dozen women have given birth while in Congress over the years, and there are many new fathers as well. One, Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, had dashed back to Washington for votes in 2023 after his wife had just given birth and their son was in an intensive care unit.

Many new and existing parents were among the eight other Republicans who joined Luna to push ahead past leaderships.

Luna’s petition opens the door for the House to vote on a resolution that would allow new parents serving in Congress to designate a proxy — another member of Congress — to vote on their behalf for 12 weeks.

Republicans had barred proxy voting once they took control of the House from Democrats in 2023. The new resolution, which includes specific procedures on how the new parent would deliver their voting instructions, would mean a change in their House rules.

The resolution from the moms allows that a proxy voting process for lawmakers have given birth or pregnant lawmakers who are unable to travel safely or have a serious medical condition. It also applies to lawmakers whose spouses are pregnant or giving birth.

Under the resolution, a qualifying lawmaker may designate a proxy to cast for them for up to 12 weeks.

Luna who is among the House's more conservative lawmakers, made national headlines for her steadfast support of Trump. But she resigned this week from the archconservative House Freedom Caucus this week, saying she could no longer be part of the group if members “broker backroom deals” against its values.

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Associated Press writer Matt Brown contributed to this report.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., takes questions on tariffs while meeting with reporters at a news conference, at the Capitol, in Washington, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)